Chapter 9 Managing Storage

n VMFS datastore copies mounted without resignaturing You cannot unmount an active mounted datastore.

Procedure

1Display the datastores.

2Right-click the datastore to unmount and select Unmount.

3If the datastore is shared, specify which hosts should no longer access the datastore. a If needed, deselect the hosts where you want to keep the datastore mounted.

By default, all hosts are selected. b Click Next.

c Review the list of hosts from which to unmount the datastore, and click Finish.

4Confirm that you want to unmount the datastore.

Changing VMFS Datastore Properties

After you create a VMFS-based datastore, you can modify it. For example, you can increase it if you need more space. If you have VMFS-2 datastores, you can upgrade them to VMFS-3 format.

Datastores that use the VMFS format are deployed on SCSI-based storage devices.

You cannot reformat a VMFS datastore that a remote host is using. If you attempt to, a warning appears that specifies the name of the datastore in use and the host that is using it. This warning also appears in the VMkernel and vmkwarning log files.

Depending on whether your vSphere Client is connected to a vCenter Server system or directly to a host, different ways to access the Datastore Properties dialog box exist.

nvCenter Server only. To access the Datastore Properties dialog box, select the datastore form the inventory, click the Configuration tab, and click Properties.

nvCenter Server and ESX host. To access the Datastore Properties dialog box, select a host from the inventory, click the Configuration tab and click Storage. From the Datastores view, select the datastore to modify and click Properties.

Increase VMFS Datastores

When you need to create new virtual machines on a datastore, or when the virtual machines running on this datastore require more space, you can dynamically increase the capacity of a VMFS datastore.

Use one of the following methods:

nAdd a new extent. An extent is a partition on a storage device, or LUN. You can add up to 32 new extents of the same storage type to an existing VMFS datastore. The spanned VMFS datastore can use any of all its extents at any time. It does not need to fill up a particular extent before using the next one.

nGrow an extent in an existing VMFS datastore, so that it fills the available adjacent capacity. Only extents with free space immediately after them are expandable.

NOTE If a shared datastore has powered on virtual machines and becomes 100% full, you can increase the datastore's capacity only from the host, with which the powered on virtual machines are registered.

Procedure

1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select a host from the Inventory panel.

2Click the Configuration tab and click Storage.

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ESX Configuration Guide

3 From the Datastores view, select the datastore to increase and click Properties.

4Click Increase.

5Select a device from the list of storage devices and click Next.

n If you want to add a new extent, select the device for which the Expandable column reads No.

nIf you want to expand an existing extent, select the device for which the Expandable column reads Yes.

6Select a configuration option from the bottom panel.

Depending on the current layout of the disk and on your previous selections, the options you see might vary.

Option	Description
Use free space to add new extent	Adds the free space on this disk as a new datastore extent.
Use free space to expand existing	Grows an existing extent to a required capacity.
extent
Use free space	Deploys an extent in the remaining free space of the disk. This option is
	available only when adding an extent.
Use all available partitions	Dedicates the entire disk to a single datastore extent. This option is available
	only when adding an extent and when the disk you are formatting is not
	blank. The disk is reformatted, and the datastores and any data that it
	contains are erased.

7Set the capacity for the extent.

By default, the entire free space on the storage device is available.

8Click Next.

9Review the proposed layout and the new configuration of your datastore, and click Finish.

What to do next

After you grow an extent in a shared VMFS datastore, refresh the datastore on each host that can access this datastore, so that the vSphere Client can display the correct datastore capacity for all hosts.

Upgrade Datastores

ESX includes VMFS version 3 (VMFS-3). If your datastore was formatted with VMFS-2, you can read files stored on VMFS-2, but you cannot write to them. To have complete access to the files, upgrade VMFS-2 to VMFS-3.

When you upgrade VMFS-2 to VMFS-3, the ESX file-locking mechanism ensures that no remote host or local process is accessing the VMFS datastore being converted. Your host preserves all files on the datastore.

As a precaution, before you use the upgrade option, consider the following:

nCommit or discard any changes to virtual disks in the VMFS-2 volume that you plan to upgrade.

nBack up the VMFS-2 volume.

nBe sure that no powered on virtual machines are using the VMFS-2 volume.

nBe sure that no other ESX host is accessing the VMFS-2 volume.

The VMFS-2 to VMFS-3 conversion is a one-way process. After you convert the VMFS-based datastore to VMFS-3, you cannot revert it back to VMFS-2.

To upgrade the VMFS-2 file system, its file block size must not exceed 8MB.

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